IITs set for 80% undergraduate courses fee hike

The New Year may spell bad news for engineering aspirants, with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) planning an 80% fee hike. The last hike had occurred in 2008-09, when the fees were doubled from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 annually.

NEW DELHI: The New Year may spell bad news for engineering aspirants, with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) planning an 80% fee hike. The decision to hike fees for undergraduate courses from Rs 50,000 to Rs 90,000 annually will be taken at an IIT Council meeting on Monday.

The last hike had occurred in 2008-09, when the fees were doubled from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 annually. The increase has been recommended by the IIT standing committee last November.

A government panel has recommended an increase in tuition fee for IIT students from an annual Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh-2.5 lakh (Rs 8-Rs 10 lakh over four years) to help the premier schools improve their standards — both in terms of physical and intellectual infrastructure. At the B. Tech level, the IITs admit around 10,000 students every year after a national-level entrance that tests around 500,000 students annually.

HRD ministry officials said the revision was overdue and was required to bring the IIT fee structure on a par with other top central government institutions like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), which charge at least three times the fee of the IITs. Even second-rung deemed universities have fee structures ranging from Rs 1.2 lakh to Rs 2 lakh annually. The IITs, on the other hand, continue to charge Rs 50,000 for an intensive course.

Other recommendations that are part of the agenda include setting up of a "green office" which will include carrying out a green audit and ensure inclusion of green technology-related courses in the curriculum.

The Kakodkar committee had also emphasized the need for IITs to be in the forefront of development of technology for sustainable growth. The panel felt that working on environmental issues such as pollution-control technologies will serve as one of the reasons for IITs to engage more with the society.

Currently, the six new IITs have been more aggressive in using green technology as they are in the process of setting up their permanent campus. For instance, IIT-Jodhpur has set up a solar field to meet most of its energy needs and IIT-Mandi is also using green technology to build its campus.